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Websleuths News

Join Websleuths Radio for the final discussion of THE KILLING SEASON
with Josh Zemam, Rachel Mills and special guests including Bob Kolker author of Lost Girls

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- A Moscow court began trying a supermarket porter who prosecutors say murdered 49 people over a 14-year period, which would make him Russia's worst serial killer in a decade.
Pichushkin is accused of luring victims to his flat before smashing them to death with a hammer.

His lawyer said 33-year-old Alexander Pichushkin had confessed to most of the murders, but it was unclear how many. The jury must decide whether or not he is of sound mind.
"My client understands that he is to blame for most of these murders," Pichushkin's lawyer, Pavel Ivannikov, told reporters outside the courtroom after a fifteen-minute hearing.
Pichushkin scowled as he was brought into Moscow City Court under heavy guard for a preliminary hearing at which he opted to be tried by a jury, instead of a panel of judges.
If convicted, Pichushkin -- called the "Bitsevsky Maniac" by Russian media after the Moscow park where many of the alleged victims were killed -- would be Russia's most deadly serial killer since Andrei Chikatilo, convicted in 1992 of 52 murders.
Prosecutors say Pichushkin befriended many of his victims in Bitsevsky park by inviting them to drink vodka with him, then bludgeoned them to death with a hammer. Some of the victims had fragments of glass pressed into their skulls.
Prosecutors also say Pichushkin confessed to the murders in police custody. Russian media reported that for every person he killed, he placed a coin on a chess board and that he had been planning to cover all 64 squares on the board.
The trial was adjourned until September 13 to allow time for a jury to be selected. It is expected to be lengthy, as it will hear from at least 41 relatives of the alleged victims and a total of 98 other witnesses.
During the hearing, relatives of two of the alleged victims sat just meters from Pichushkin. The accused occasionally stretched his arms and stared out from the glass enclosure where he was held, without displaying any emotion.
In a red and white checked shirt and jeans, he looked older than his age, with gray peppering his dark hair. Speaking quietly before the hearing, one middle aged man, Alexander Fyodorov, recalled his family's efforts to track down his missing brother, who would be 47 this year.
"I want Pichushkin to sit in prison for the rest of his life," he said. Although Russia has not formally abolished the death penalty, it has been observing a moratorium on capital punishment.
Another elderly woman who was also in the court, Tamara Klimova, came home from holiday to discover her husband was missing. The body was not found for five years. Prosecutors now believe he was killed by Pichushkin.
"I would like him to be handed over to the people so that they can tear him apart," Klimova told reporters.

THE chessboard serial killer went on trial yesterday charged with 49 murders — but protesting that he really notched up 62 victims.

Alexander Pichushkin, 33, wanted to commit one murder for each of the 64 squares on his chessboard.
His ambition was to beat the record of 62 victims set by Russian cannibal Andrei Chikatilo in 1992.
The maniac was “furious” when police said they only had evidence of 49 murders.
Investigators say he hurled at least 40 victims to their deaths in a sewage pit. Others were battered with a hammer.http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007420808,00.html

More at the link with a pic - very creepy and maybe not what you'd 'expect'!

On Tuesday, Russian news agencies reported, the court judge tried to limit Pichushkin from testifying about murders other than those he was charged with.
"And the 63 doesn't interest you? Even though they found the bodies," he was quoted as saying. "I thought it would be unfair to forget about the other 11 people."
In a confession that was televised earlier, he made similarly lurid claims about his need to commit murder saying: "For me, a life without murder is like a life without food for you."
Russian media have speculated that Pichushkin may have been motivated by a macabre competition with Russia's most notorious serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo, who was convicted in 1992 of killing 52 children and young women in 12 years.

On Tuesday, Russian news agencies reported, the court judge tried to limit Pichushkin from testifying about murders other than those he was charged with.
"And the 63 doesn't interest you? Even though they found the bodies," he was quoted as saying. "I thought it would be unfair to forget about the other 11 people."
In a confession that was televised earlier, he made similarly lurid claims about his need to commit murder saying: "For me, a life without murder is like a life without food for you."
Russian media have speculated that Pichushkin may have been motivated by a macabre competition with Russia's most notorious serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo, who was convicted in 1992 of killing 52 children and young women in 12 years.

Respectfully,
dark_shadows

The sickness is there. Not that he shouldn't be prosecuted because he should and all of the others that mimic this behavior. It is called evil and it is beyond our comprehension but it doesn't negate the fact of its existence. To disqualify based on "mental illness" which a lot of society will do to wash the slate clean doesn't express that there are people who are evil. They will ultimately meet their maker and sometimes they get away with these crimes on earth but nothing is forever.

He has a very chilling appearance. I agree he is insane..no sane person would do this...however that is no excuse for all these killings. They cannot rehabilate an individual like this...he deserves life in prison at the very least.

I predict Pincushion will attempt to kill an inmate or an officer if given the opportunity - to complete his chessboard. I believe him when he says his number is the same number as the number of pieces of cork on his chessboard. A mind like his would not put a piece of cork on there just to make it look like more. It would have to be accurate.

I'm thinking the number on the chessboard would be more than the number of confirmed deaths by police since he was targeting homeless people and records aren't kept on homeless people like they are others.

The animal lover who killed humans to let them into another world
Alexander Pichushkin, the so-called "chessboard killer", was well known along the leafy lanes of Moscow's Bitsevsky Park. The 33-year-old supermarket worker played chess under the trees and even invited his opponents for a drink afterwards.
Pichushkin lured his victims, who were mostly elderly men, to a quiet part of the park before attacking them from behind with a hammer. He would suggest drinking a glass of vodka next to the grave of his beloved dog before killing them.
More...

Alexander Pichushkin Biography
Russian serial killer Alexander Pichushkin, nicknamed The Chessboard Killer, was caught in Moscow and convicted in 2007 of killing 48 people. Following his arrest the police discovered a chessboard with dates on all but two of the squares, apparently connected to the murders he committed. Due to the gruesomeness and number of murders, Russians considered reinstating the death penalty.
More...